U.S. Factory Orders Pull Back Sharply In July

9/5/2017 10:26 AM ET

After reporting a substantial increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a sharp pullback in factory orders in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said factory orders plunged by 3.3 percent in July after surging up by an upwardly revised 3.2 percent in June.

Economists had expected orders to tumble by 3.2 percent compared to the 3.0 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

The pullback in factory orders was primarily due to a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, which plummeted by 19.2 percent.

Excluding the sharp decline in orders for transportation equipment, the report said factory orders rose by 0.5 percent in July.

The report also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, an indicator of business spending, jumped by 1 percent in July after dipping by 0.1 percent in June.